Monarca Art Space (MÁS)

Monarca Art Space (MÁS) is an art gallery, boutique, artist-studio, and café in Kansas City’s historic West Bottoms at 1225 Union Avenue, founded and owned by artist Vania Soto. A half-gallery, half-boutique space built to help artists — especially Latino and immigrant creatives — exhibit, sell, and build businesses, it moved to its Union Avenue home in the West Bottoms’ growing arts district.

Description

Monarca Art Space — MÁS — is a hybrid art gallery, boutique, artist-studio, and café in the West Bottoms at 1225 Union Avenue, founded and owned by Kansas City artist Vania Soto.¹² Half gallery and half boutique, the space is built to help artists exhibit and sell their work and to support artist entrepreneurs — with a particular focus on Latino and immigrant creatives — and moved to its Union Avenue location as the West Bottoms’ arts scene expanded.²

Ownership and history

Monarca Art Space is founded, owned, and operated by artist Vania Soto, making it a Latina- and woman-owned independent business.¹² Soto built MÁS as a platform for artists to take their creative work to market; the space has been covered in local arts and business press for its artist-entrepreneur mission.²

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